Screw device for high-adjusting a track span

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a screw device for high-adjusting and aligning rails on a track infrastructure comprising a transversal cantilever beam which clamps the rail on the underside and is fixed to a long nut ( 4 ) which is variably high guided along a high-adjusting screw ( 3 ). The inventive screw device is characterised in that the transversal cantilever beam is embodied in the form of a horizontal screw plate ( 7 ) which is pivotally arranged around a horizontal axis ( 20 ) on the long nut and on which a truck provided with a clamp fixing device ( 10,11 ) for a rail base can perpendicularly move with respect to the high-adjusting screw with the aid of a second screw device ( 14,16,17 ).

The invention relates to a spindle device for adjusting the height ofand aligning tracks on a substructure, having a transverse cantileverwhich is fixed to an elongate nut adjustable in height on a heightadjustment spindle and which engages under the rails.

In the height adjustment and alignment of track grids for solidcarriageways, it is not only necessary to adjust the rails to thecorrect height, but also to be able to bank these to some extent onbends, to which end the track grid needs to be tiltable. In a devicedisclosed in DE 197 671 C2 for the height adjustment and temporarysupport of rails, it is therefore provided that the rails bear on abearing edge, so that when the track grid is more raised on one sidethan the other, as occurs at bends, the rails can tilt accordingly ontheir support. In this case, however, there is a risk that the vehiclemay slip off sideways, and especially the height adjustment deviceprovided in this case, with opposing displaceable wedges, is notsuitable to effect the necessary horizontal displacement also requiredin aligning the track grids, since any horizontal displacement of one ofthe support wedges with the track would at the same time involve achange in the vertical position.

Spindle devices have proved advantageous in the height adjustment oftrack grids, although hitherto in principle two fully independentspindles have been required for height adjustment and horizontaldisplacement, the horizontal adjustment spindles involving the risk, inthe case of large adjustments, of tilting of the vertical spindle, andhence the risk of inversion of the track.

The object of the invention is therefore so to form a spindle device forheight adjustment and alignment of rails, in particular of track gridsfor solid carriageways, that a simpler and more reliable displacement ispossible both in the vertical and in the horizontal directions withoutany adverse mutual interference.

To achieve this, it is proposed according to the invention that thetransverse cantilever is formed as a horizontal spindle plate which ismounted pivotably about a horizontal axis on the elongate nut, and onwhich a slide provided with a clamping holding device for the rail footis mounted displaceably by means of a second spindle device transverseto the height adjustment spindle.

With the configuration according to the invention, the transverseadjustment spindle no longer acts on the height adjustment spindle, sothat unlike hitherto the height adjustment spindle is not pivoted out ofits vertical position when a subsequent horizontal adjustment of therail grid occurs. At the same time, the horizontal spindle plate mountedpivotably on the elongate nut provides a support for the rail, which canbe adjusted to any desired angle where banked at a bend.

In an embodiment of the invention, it can be arranged that the slideconsists of a ribbed plate provided with guide rails encompassing thehorizontal spindle plate with a clamping hook and a conventional railfoot screw clamp. Thereby, a very simple mount of the rail is provided,which at the same time also permits a very simple horizontal adjustmentdevice.

Thus according to a further feature of the invention, it can be providedthat a rigid horizontal spindle penetrating a rest is fixed to theslide, in particular is welded thereto, and is displaceable along itslongitudinal axis by means of adjusting nuts bearing on either side ofthe rest.

Furthermore, it is within the scope of the invention that the horizontalpivot joint of the horizontal spindle plate is fixable, which has thegreat advantage that during shaking or other forces acting laterally ona track grid, the support device cannot tip over.

In order to permit a simpler construction of the spindle deviceaccording to the invention after the casting of concrete, in animprovement of the invention it can be provided that the clamping hookcan be removed above the ribbed plate, in particular in such a mannerthat the clamping hook is formed by a screw for a clamping plateoverlapping the rail foot. This capacity of the clamping hook to beremoved, in combination with a detachable fixing of the second spindledevice both on the slide and on the horizontal spindle plate, permitssimple removal of the support device, whilst a rigid hook makes itnecessary at first to lower by the amount of projection of this hook.

If the second spindle device is so formed that it does not project abovethe sole of the rail foot, it may not need to be detachable, since thisis provided purely in order that the support device according to theinvention can be removed under the rail foot when this has beenconcreted in.

The length of the elongate nut mentioned, which is guided on the heightadjustment spindle, is so selected that sufficient rigidity of thesupport is afforded, to which end it is advantageous if the elongate nutsubstantially overlaps the height adjustment spindle and only admitssufficient play for the usually necessary adjustment distances.

According to a further feature of the invention, support rails for theheight adjustment spindles may be provided, which are fixed so as torest on the track substructure and permit easier sliding in thelongitudinal direction of the lower ends of the height adjustmentspindles, so that differences due to thermal expansion can becompensated in the case of longer support periods.

In this case, it has been found particularly advantageous if the supportrails are angled rails oriented opposite to one another with projectingbearing flanges for the height adjustment spindles, which preventsslipping off in the transverse direction. Here, oriented opposite to oneanother means that the angled rails face either both with theirapertures outwards or both with their apertures inwards. U-shaped railscould also be used. The bearing flanges then abut in one case the heightadjustment spindles on the inner face and/or on the outer face.

Further advantages, features and details of the invention will appearfrom the following description of an embodiment and from the drawing,which shows:

FIG. 1 a view of a spindle device according to the invention with a railsupported thereon of a track grid (not otherwise shown) in a tiltedposition, as occurs in track bends with a banked portion,

FIG. 2 an enlarged detail of the pivot joint for the horizontal spindleplate in the direction of the arrow 11 in FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 a section along the line III-III in FIG. 1,

FIG. 4 a cross-section through the horizontal spindle plate,

FIG. 5 a view corresponding to FIG. 1 of a modified spindle device withremovable hook for the rail foot and a modified configuration of thepivot joint,

FIG. 6 a plan view of the arrangement according to FIG. 5 without rail,

FIG. 7 a view of FIG. 5 in the direction of the arrow VII in FIG. 5, and

FIG. 8 a view from outside in the direction of the arrow VIII in FIG. 5.

In FIG. 1, at 1, the upper face of a track substructure can be seen,over which reinforcement rods 2 are to be seen, which will be embeddedduring subsequent casting. On the substructure 1 is supported a heightadjustment spindle 3, on which an elongate nut 4 is guided. By rotatingthe spindle e.g. by means of its hexagonal head 5, the height of theelongate nut can be adjusted, a horizontal spindle plate 7 being fixedto the nut via a hinge device 6. On this horizontal spindle plate, aslide 8 is mounted so as to be displaceable transversely, the slidecomprising a ribbed plate 9 with a clamping hook 10 and a conventionalrail foot screw clamp 11 for fixing the rail foot 12 of a rail 13. Therail 13 is in this case a rail of a track grid with sleepers (not shown)connecting the rails. Spindle devices according to the invention aredisposed at intervals along both rails. For horizontal adjustment of thetrack grid, a horizontal spindle 14 is used, which is fixed to theribbed plate, is welded thereto in the example shown at 15, and whichpenetrates a rest 16 of the horizontal spindle plate. By means ofadjusting nuts 17 on the horizontal spindle 13, adjustment in thelongitudinal direction of the horizontal spindle is possible, i.e. inthe desired horizontal transverse adjustment direction of the trackgrid, without this transverse adjustment having any effect on theposition of the height adjustment spindle.

The guide rails 18 encompassing the horizontal spindle plate 7 are fixedlaterally on the ribbed plate 8, as can be seen in particular from FIG.4, the guide rails in the example shown consisting of two parts screwedtogether. These form the slide guide proper.

The horizontal spindle plate 7 is welded to two sleeves 19, which aremounted on a pivot bearing bolt 20 of the pivot joint 6. Between thesesleeves is a further sleeve 21, which is welded to the elongate nut 4 onthe spindle 3. To these sleeves 19 and 21, plates are welded, which areprovided with slots 24, so that a certain degree of pivoting can takeplace, as is necessary for the purpose of pivoting of the horizontalspindle plate at banked portions of the track grid. The threaded spindle25 with its head 26 and a nut 27 permits clamped locking of the plates22 and 23 relative to one another, so that the pivot joint 6 is locked.This locking of the pivot joint after alignment has taken place has thecritical advantage that when a track grid is subjected to lateralforces, it cannot fall over. For such locking, obviously a quicktightener could alternatively be used.

FIGS. 5 to 8 show a second embodiment of a spindle device according tothe invention which differs from that in FIGS. 1 to 4 in essentially twopoints. On the one hand, the hook 10 of the ribbed plate 8 is replacedwith a screw 10 a, which presses a clamping plate 10 b on to the railfoot 12. This permits removal of the hook formed by these two parts 10 aand 10 b, in which case a lower supplementary plate 10 c may beprovided, which must be slightly lower than the height of the rail foot12, so that after embedding of the aligned track grid with concrete, theribbed plate 8 with the remaining parts of the spindle device can beeasily removed to the left, without the need for previous lowering bythe projection height of the hook 8, as in the embodiments according toFIGS. 1 to 4. According to this removability of the hook 10 a, 10 b, 10c, the second spindle device with the horizontal spindle 14 is to befixed both detachably to the slide with the ribbed plate 8 and by meansof the screw 28 detachably to the horizontal spindle plate 7.

Furthermore, instead of the spaced plates 23 with intermediate sleevesand support members, a solid block part 23 a is provided, which ismounted pivotably and fixably between the cheeks 22 by means of thethreaded spindle 25 with its head 26 and the nut 27.

At 30, an angled rail can be seen, whose horizontal flange 31 is fixedto the track substructure, whilst the upward-projecting flange 32 formsan abutment for the height adjustment spindle 3. To the left and rightof the track grid, these angled rails are disposed in reverse, so thatthe upward-projecting flange respectively abuts the inner face of theheight adjustment spindle 3. The upward-projecting flange thus preventsdisplacement of the support device in the horizontal direction to theleft or right, whilst the horizontal flange forms a support rail for thebulky lower end of the height adjustment spindle 3, so that this canslide better in the axial direction of the track if relatively hightemperature differences and corresponding lengthening of the tracknecessitate such displacement during the support period. This avoidscomplex longitudinal adjustment devices on the individual spindledevices, such as have been provided hitherto in the prior art.

Specification

Spindle device for the height adjustment and alignment of tracks on asubstructure, having a transverse cantilever which is fixed to anelongate nut adjustable in height on a height adjustment spindle andwhich engages under the rail and which is formed as a horizontal spindleplate which is mounted on the elongate nut pivotably about a horizontalaxis and on which a slide provided with a clamping mount device for therail foot is displaceable by means of a second spindle device transverseto the height adjustment spindle.

1. Spindle device for the height adjustment and alignment of tracks on asubstructure, having a transverse cantilever which is fixed to anelongate nut adjustable in height on a height adjustment spindle andwhich engages under the rail, said transverse cantilever being formed asa horizontal spindle plate which is mounted on the elongate nutpivotably about a horizontal axis and on which a slide provided with aclamping mount device for the rail foot is displaceable by means of asecond spindle device transverse to the height adjustment spindle. 2.Spindle device according to claim 1, wherein the slide comprises aribbed plate provided with guide rails encompassing the horizontalspindle plate with a clamping hook and a conventional rail foot screwclamp.
 3. Spindle device according to claim 1, wherein a rigidhorizontal spindle penetrating a rest on the horizontal spindle plate isfixed to the slide and is displaceable by means of adjusting nutsabutting the rest on both sides along its longitudinal axis.
 4. Spindledevice according to claim 2, wherein the clamping hook is removableabove the ribbed plate.
 5. Spindle device according to claim 4, whereinthe clamping hook is formed by a screw for a clamping plate overlappingthe rail foot.
 6. Spindle device according to claim 4, wherein thesecond spindle device is detachably fixed both to the slide and to thehorizontal spindle plate.
 7. Spindle device according to claim 1,wherein the horizontal pivot joint of the horizontal spindle plate isfixable.
 8. Spindle device according to claim 1, wherein the elongatenut substantially overlaps the height adjustment spindle in order toincrease its rigidity.
 9. Spindle device according to claim 1, whereinsupport rails for the height adjustment spindles, which support railsare fixed so as to rest on the track substructure.
 10. Spindle deviceaccording to claim 9, wherein the support rails are angle rails orientedopposite to one another having projecting abutment flanges for theheight adjustment spindles or are U-shaped profiles.
 11. Spindle deviceaccording to claim 1, wherein the standing angle is infinitely variable.